The Rain Explained Falls Mainly Causing Pain- “The Devil’s Rain”-Tonight!

That was the most awful movie. We couldn't watch it. That's the second time it was on. We have movie night every Saturday with Svengoolie, but we couldn't watch that one😬😳

Spike and Tyke!
Spike is such a good doggie daddy!

new blog is up

🙏 I think our BB7 Crew is safe ~ stay inland ! Great White Sharks 🦈 are sighted at Cape Cod !

So, it this gonna a be a thing, the delayed appearance of the week’s blog?

Considering today, August 6, is the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, we might contemplate the ethics of pursuing science and technology not because we Should but because we Can. A question easily transcending Shelly's 1820s time-frame.

OH YEAH!!! It’s Hatch Chili season! Everything (breakfast, lunch & dinner) will involve freshly grilled Hatch Chilis.

If you can't see my movie review, click on my name and you'll find it.

My movie review disappeared again, so I reposted it.

Ok time hit the showers and just do stuff

Good Morning, Everyone:

There is a lot behind the story of tonight’s offering.

Early 1950’s Sci-Fi made its way to England shortly after its initial US release, starting with Lippert’s own “Rocketship X-M” (which opened one month prior to “Destination Moon”).These films inspired Hammer Studios to enter the genre. But early efforts such as “Spaceways” or “Four Sided Triangle” barely qualified. It wasn’t until BBC Screenwriter Nigel Kneale’s “The Quatemass Experiment” was made into a successful serial in the summer of 1953, that England had its first legitimate, adult, Science Fiction property. Few film studios came calling to buy the rights, put off by the possibility of no one under age 16 being able to see the finished product. The payoff was immediate for the screenwriter, a little further down the road for Hammer and slightly further off for an up and coming actor.

One of Kneale’s next assignments was creating the screen play for George Orwell’s “1984”. Only the Queen’s Coronation, two years earlier, was watched by more people. Its Star, Peter Cushing, won the 1955 Emmy for his performance as Winston Smith.

Despite being ordered by their American Distributor, Lippert Pictures, to use Brian Donlevy as its lead, “TQE” was a huge success in England. Teamed with the French Crime Drama “Rififi”, it became the nation’s highest grossing double feature in 1955. The best was yet to come. Lippert could not find American Studios willing to take the film, so they sold it outright to United Artists (who doubled it with “The Black Sleep”). With UA expressing interest (the Studio offered to help finance a sequel), Hammer Executives now went after American distributors willing to work with them on their own terms. One of those distributors. A A P, Inc (You’ve seen their logo on Looney Tunes and Popeye Cartoons for years), sent back a copy of a script they had been given for “Frankenstein”. It would need work.

When Peter Cushing read the press releases on Hammer’s proposed new work, he had his agent express his interest. Producer Anthony Hinds realized it would take an actor the public knew and liked to play the lead. So Cushing was invited to a premiere of “X, the Unknown”, which was a bittersweet experience for the Studio. This film was supposed to be the “TQE” sequel, however, with Kneale so upset over Brian Donlevy’s performance, he refused to allow the character of Quatemass to appear in it. As a result, the film had to be redesigned (By Jimmy Sangster), changing its name and that of a major character. RKO had agreed to distribute the film in America, and, like Lippert, insisted on an American actor, playing the lead. Dean Jagger (1949’s best supporting actor) gave a credible performance but his salary doubled the film’s budget. Hammer would now have a popular and respected star for its new film. Kneale had an intelligent and sensitive actor he’d worked with twice (“1984” and “The Creature”) who might one day play Quatemass.

“Curse of Frankenstein” opening in May (UK) and June (US) 1957 returned 40 times its production costs and made a major star out of Peter Cushing. It put Hammer on the map as a major studio. Kneale would write screen plays for two more “Qautemass” entries (one with Donlevy) continuing his theme of "a new range of gendered fears about Britain's postwar and post-colonial security."

But even Kneale had to see the irony in Donlevy’s Quatemass serving as the template for Cushing’s Frankenstein: “...Both men are brilliant, driven, and tend to disregard morality in the pursuit of scientific breakthrough. Both men do not suffer fools and do not bother to cover their impatience with those they consider to be of lesser intellect.”

Oh, well! Quatemass did inspire “Dr. Who” as well.

A pretty good selection of Looney Tunes this morning.

Good Morning, Everyone:

I'm posting at 10 so I know I have your undivided attention...ha ha...

I'll also be out for several hours. Would someone be nice enough to do a cut and paste of it to the new board if it comes up after I am gone?

Elmer Fudd and Lex Luthor should team up to take on Bugs and Superman.

Yabba Dabba Doo it's going to be The Flintstones, The Jetsons and then more of The Flintstones tomorrow

The characters and drawings in this cartoon all look like they'd stopped out of the pages of THE NEW YORKER.

Smoking, drinking and burlesque dancing - a true kids' cartoon 😀